Do BYU-Idaho Students

Interact with Church

Social Media?
Nikki Siegel Whitney Clafin Carissa Simons Jessica Blain Morgan Harper
1
Background:
Research has shown social media is becoming more prominent
in todays society, and religion can be infuenced by use of
social media. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
has been using more social media to convey its messages,
but it is unknown how BYU-Idaho students interact with the
Churchs social media.
Methods:
To research how BYU-I students interact with Church social
media, a survey was sent to 300 BYU-I students, out of which,
66 responded to the survey. Thirteen questions were asked
to determine the interaction between the students and the
Church-related social media.
Findings:
The majority of BYU-I students follow Church-related groups
on social media, and the majority say that they do not hesitate
to share Church-related messages on social media. Out of the
number that say they do not hesitate to share the messages,
it was found that females are less likely to hesitate in sharing
than male students. However, only 29 percent of students
actually do share Church-related messages on social media.
Facebook is the most-used social media platform when it
comes to interacting with Church-related material, while Twitter
was the least-used. BYU-I students share offcial and unoffcial
messages equally on social media.
Conclusion:
Most BYU-I students do interact with Church-related social
media, mostly through following church-related groups, but
also somewhat through sharing the messages. The interaction
primarily occurs on Facebook.

ABSTRACT
2
in this new technology and
media heavy environment.
The movement of present
generation towards the digital
technology can demand a
change in political and social
systems, according to a study
completed by Youth Studies
Australia (3). Organizations are
fnding that they need to learn
how to communicate through
social media use, because it is
the future of communication
(3).
One subject that is being
constantly communicated
throughout the world is
religion. Religion is very
prevalent among people
today. In fact, religion is more
important in todays society
than it has been for some time
(10).
Social Media is the future
of communication in the 21
st

century (1). There is great
power in social media because
of the growing number of
social media users. Specifcally
in the United States, social
media use is growing at a
very quick pace. Social media
platforms account for 25
percent of online screen-time
for Americans (2).
The amount of social media
use, primarily from adults, in
the United States has grown
immensely in just the last few
years. From 2005 to 2012,
adult internet users went from
8 percent up to 67 percent, an
increase of over 700 percent
(2).
Many companies and social
groups have realized and felt
the impact of social media use
LITERARY
ANALYSIS
3
Journal of Computer Assisted
Learning on how they interact
with social media, using
Twitter, in relation to school
work. The purpose of the
study was to see if students
would use Twitter to engage
in school pursuits and to see if
this engagement would cause
grades to rise (7).
They began this study by
administering a survey to 132
students in their frst semester
of pre-health majors. Based on
this survey they were able to
narrow the group down to 115
students who said they have
and use Twitter. They then split
this group into two (7).
The experimental group
consisted of 77 students, and
the controlled group consisted
of 55 students. Throughout
the semester, the experimental
According to USA Today
research, when asked
why religion is important,
Americans said it is important
for worship, for a change to
experience community and
for service, but its greatest
contribution is that religion
makes people want to live (5).
If religion is important
to people and people are
becoming more likely to use
social media to communicate,
then religion is more than
likely going to be talked about
via social media. Because of
how prominent social media
is becoming in our society,
studies have been done on
how and if individuals react
with social media involving
their religion in some way.
A group of college students
were tested in a study by the
4
thinking of one if he or she had
the opportunity to engage
in religious matters on social
media? Would it lead to more
faith conversions?
The Journal for the Scientifc
Study of Religion did a study
on individuals self-disclosing
their religion online using
one of the frst social media
platforms: MySpace. The study
showed many people who
found religion to be a private
matter did not self-disclose
their religion on Myspace,
and there were not very many
people who did disclose their
religion (6).
Only one in three Myspace
users said something about
religion, and it was usually
through the religion affliation
option status on their profle.
Also, individuals that had
group would engage in
assignments that dealt directly
with Twitter. The control group
would remain the same to help
compare the results (7).
At the end of the semester,
through another series
of surveys and analysis
of the Tweets done by
the experimental group,
researcher came to the
conclusion that students were
more engaged in their school
work through Twitter. There
was a considerable difference
between the two groups as
the experimental groups
engagement in school work
and grades did rise (7).
Because it shows the power
of social media on the current
generation, this conclusion
leads to other questions such
as: How would it infuence the
5
world (8).
The Church markets their
beliefs through many means,
and the Church has been able
to use online tools like search
engine optimization and social
media platforms to positively
infuence the public and
share the true aspects of the
Churchs beliefs. This helps
with clarifying and changing
negative rumors that have
been incorrectly shared as
facts around the world (8).
A study done by the
University of Pennsylvania
on the Church covered
how conversion and de-
conversation can take place
both on and offine. The
research was done by in-depth
interviews of both current and
former members of the Church.
From the experiences of the
many religious friends on
Myspace were more likely to
self-disclose their religion than
others (6).
This study shows that
although it is rare for individuals
to openly disclose their
religion through Myspace, the
most common religion that
did disclose was Christian-
other (6). This is interesting,
because it brings up questions
like: Is Christianity spreading
on social media more than any
other religion? And if so, why?
Because of this great push
towards the use of social
media in this generation, one
Christian group, The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, more commonly known
as the Mormons, has moved
forward in presenting the
Churchs doctrine in the online
6
can lead to either conversion
or reconversion to a faith or
religion (4).
Other fndings show that the
Church is getting involved but
may not be getting the fruits
of their efforts. The Church
is using social media, through
the news as well, to reach its
primarily Mormon audience.
A study completed by the
Journal of Media and Religion
shows that the Church is using
social media to promote
its messages (the Mormon
Times is tweeting about 2.25
times a day), but it may not
be interacting much with its
audience (9).
In recent years, the Church
has made considerable efforts
to improve their outreach
online. Much of that has taken
place on different social media
individuals being surveyed, the
results show people feel more
comfortable and confdent in
sharing their opinions online
when fnding others who feel
the same way so they can
receive positive reinforcement
of their beliefs (4).
This study describes how
the Internet has been a
place for individuals to freely
express themselves and their
beliefs. The result found in
this research is that individuals
will go to the Internet to fnd
others who share their views
on a belief (4).
Individuals are more likely to
express themselves openly and
frequently when they are in an
online environment rather than
in person with a group. The
authors of this study propose
that material studied online
7
platforms such as Facebook,
Pinterest, Instagram, and
Twitter. The target audiences
of this social media promotion
are mostly teenagers and
young adults.
Is it effective? Do BYU-Idaho
college students interact with
what the Church places on
social media?
This question needs to
be researched to better
understand how far BYU-I
students go to share their
beliefs online or if they do
share their beliefs online at all.
Also, it would be interesting to
know how effective the Church
is in convincing college-age
students to share their beliefs
based on the content placed
on the different social media
platforms.
8
students who completed the
survey.
Survey
The survey asked BYU-I
students 13 questions
regarding their interaction with
The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints through social
media. The frst four questions
in the survey addressed their
demographic information.
The remaining nine questions
addressed their personal
interaction with Church social
media. The survey consisted
of yes or no questions, likert
scale questions and multiple-
choice questions.
Questions
The following demographic
questions were asked in
the survey to help better
categorize the audience:
Methodology
For this study, data was
gathered through the use of a
survey. An electronic survey,
created in Qualtrics, sent out
to 300 randomly selected
BYU-Idaho student emails to
collect the data. Emails were
obtained through Institutional
Director Scott Bergstrom after
receiving university permission
to conduct the survey.
Response Rates
During the two and a half
week period the survey was
available for, the survey was
sent out to students three times.
Out of the 300 students invited
to take the survey, 66 students
responded. This calculates to
a 22 percent response rate.
Unless otherwise stated, the
information gathered from this
survey comes from the direct
responses of those BYU-I
METHODS
9
How often do you share
unoffcial Church messages?
Do you follow any Church-
related groups?
Do you hesitate to share
Church-related material on
social media?
Defnitions of terms used in
the survey questions:
#BecauseofHim was a
campaign used during the
Easter season by the Church to
help promote remembrance of
the life of Jesus Christ.
Offcial Church messages
are messages the Church
publishes themselves on their
social media platforms. The
people who follow them can
share or post these same
messages on their personal
social media pages.
What is your gender?
What is your relationship
status?
Have you served a
mission?
At what age were you
baptized?
The following questions
addressing student
interaction with Church
social media were asked in
the survey:
How many hours a day do
you spend on social media?
Did you participate in the
#BecauseofHim campaign?
Do you share Mormon
Messages?
Do you share General
Conference talks or quotes?
How often do you share
offcial Church messages?
10
Unoffcial Church messages
are messages that the social
media user creates related to
the Church. The Church did
not sponsor these messages
or originally create them.
These messages are mostly
testimonies about the Church
or other personal, gospel-
related insights.
(See Appendix for detailed
survey questions.)
11
to deliberately receive updates
and information posted by an
individual or group. For this
particular study, the question
in the survey asks students if
they follow or have chosen to
receive updates through social
media by the Church.
The graph for this fnding
shows 10 fgures that are a
social media icon representing
to follow. Eight of the fgures
are blue which represent that
80 percent of the students
follow Church-related content
on the social media platforms.
Two of the fgures were in red
to represent the 20 percent
that dont.
Finding one: The majority
of BYU-I students follow
Church-related groups on
social media.
One question asked on
the survey addressed whether
or not BYU-I students follow
Church-related groups on
social media. Out of the
66 responses to this survey
question, 53 students said
yes, and 13 students said
no. This means 80 percent of
the surveyed students follow
Church-related groups, while
20 percent do not.
To follow on the different
social media platforms means
FINDINGS
80% Follow 20% Dont
The percentage of students that follow
Church-related groups compared to those that dont.
12
related material on social
media than male students.
As shown by the data
from this survey question and
further calculation, although
the majority of surveyed
students do not hesitate to
share church messages on
social media, men are more
likely to hesitate in sharing
the Church social media than
women. Out of the 44 female
students who responded to
the survey question, 33 said
they do not hesitate and 11
said they do. Out of the 22
males that responded, 13 said
they do not hesitate and 9 said
that they do.
To fnd the percentage
of students that do and do
not hesitate, a series of ratio
calculations were done. These
calculations show 41 percent of
the surveyed males do hesitate
to share Church-related
messages on social media
compared to the 26 percent of
females that hesitate.
Finding two: The majority of
BYU-I students say they do
not hesitate to share Church
messages on social media.
Another question the
survey asked students was
whether or not they hesitate
to share Church messages on
social media. Out of the 66
responses, 46 students said
they do not hesitate, and 20
said they do. This means 70
percent of surveyed students
self-reported that they do
not hesitate to share and 30
percent self-reported they do
hesitate. This is clearly stated
in the graph.
The dark blue bar in the
attached graph represents the
70 percent of the students that
do not hesitate in sharing social
media. The light blue bar
represents the 30 percent of
the students that do hesitate.
Corollary fnding 2-A: Female
students are less likely to
hesitate sharing Church-
13
that hesitate to share, which
is 26 percent. The male fgure
represents the percentage of
males that hesitate to share,
which is 41 percent.
The portion of the graph
that represents this sub-fnding
is the male and female fgures.
The female fgure represents
the percentage of females
70% Dont Hesitate
30% Do
26% 41%
Students who say they dont hesitate to share
Church-related material versus those who do.
14
Finding Three: Facebook is
the most-used social media
platform used to share
Church-related messages.
A cross tabulation was
done using data from two
questions on the survey to
show which platform of social
media was used most often to
share Church-related material.
One of the questions used
addressed how often students
share offcial Church messages,
and the other question asked
how often students share
unoffcial Church-related
messages. For this study,
offcial refers to material
published by the Church, and
unoffcial means personally
created religious content.
A series of calculations
were done to show that
52 out of the 66 surveyed
students said that they do
share Church-related material
on Facebook while only 14
students said they do not. This
calculates to 79 percent of the
surveyed students do share on
Facebook and only 21 percent
of students do not.
The Facebook portion of
the graph is represented by
the Facebook symbol. The
Symbol is flled to the percent
of students who use Facebook
to share Church social media
which is 79 percent.
Corollary Finding 3-A: Twitter
is the least-used social media
platform for sharing Church-
related messages.
Based off the same survey
questions from fnding three,
the social media platform,
Twitter, was the least-used
platform. Only two students
out of the 66 who responded
to the survey share Church-
related messages on Twitter,
which calculates to 3 percent
of the surveyed students.
The data also showed that
56 students said they never
share Church-related material
on Twitter, which calculates
15
In the graph, the Twitter
logo represents student use of
Twitter to share Church social
media. Three percent of the
logo is shaded; this represents
that only 3 percent of students
use Twitter to share Church
social media.
to 85 percent of the surveyed
students. This could correlate
with another question from
the survey which asked what
social media platform students
use more. According to the
responses to this question,
Twitter was the least-used
platform overall by the
surveyed students.
79%
3%
vs.
16
Finding Four: The majority of
BYU-I students do not share
Church-related material on
social media.
Using the same two
questions from the survey as
in fnding three, calculations
were done to show that out
of the 66 surveyed students,
eight students chose not to
respond. Forty-one students
who answered said they do
not share Church-related
material on social media, while
17 of the surveyed students
who answered said they do
share. This calculates to 62
percent of the students who
answered the survey do not
share Church-related material
and only 29 percent do share.
The graph for this fnding
is shown by using a social
media icon that represents
people sharing. The big light
blue icon represents the
students who do not share,
which is 62 percent. The little
dark blue icon shows the small
percentage of students who
do share, which is 29 percent.
62%
Dont
29%
Do
The percentage of students that share
compared to those that dont.
17
Finding Five: BYU-I students
share offcial and unoffcial
Church material equally on
social media platforms.
Offcial church messages
are messages the Church
publishes themselves on
their social media platforms.
Unoffcial church messages
are messages that the
social media users create
themselves relating to the
Church. The Church did not
sponsor the material, or they
did not create it. For example:
testimonies, or personal
religious experiences.
Using the same questions
used in fndings previous to
this one, calculations were
done to show that out of
66 surveyed students, 19
answered that they share
offcial Church messages,
which means 29 percent of
the students surveyed share
offcial content. It was also
found that 18 out of the 66
surveyed students share
unoffcial Church messages,
which means 27 percent of
the surveyed students share
unoffcial content. When a
comparison is made, they are
almost equal.
The graph that represents
this fnding is a basic bar
graph. The bar that is dark
blue represents the students
who share unoffcial Church
social media, which is 27
percent. The bar that is red
represents the students who
share offcial Church social
media, which is 29 percent.
The bar graph helps show that
the two percentages are about
equal.
Unofficial Official
27.2% 28.8%
18
than having people follow the
content (11). With signifcantly
more BYU-I students following
than sharing Church social
media, one can conclude
that the Church messages are
not reaching nearly as many
people as they could if more
students were proactive in
sharing the messages instead
of being passive followers.
An article in the Deseret
News gave one example of
one woman whose religion
believed in an angry God,
but she converted to a much
gentler religion after listening
to a podcast shared via social
media (12). This shows that
the sharing of religious views
can impact change in people.
Interestingly, although only
29 percent of students said they
share Church-related content,
Overall, it was found that
the majority of BYU-I students
do interact with Church
social media, mostly through
following Church-related
groups but somewhat through
sharing Church-related
messages.
Eighty percent of students
are following Church social
media, whereas only 29
percent of students are actually
sharing that Church-related
content with family members
and friends through social
media. This shows that while
students may follow Church-
related groups, they are not as
interested in sharing what they
follow.
Having people share
content is more important to
the growth of the message in
todays social media market
CONCLUSION
19
It would be interesting to
further study the relationship
being a returned missionary
has to sharing the gospel
through social media, because
many of the male students
were returned missionaries,
but those men who had
served missionaries seemed to
hesitate more than the women
who had not served missions.
As for which social medium
is used most often, 79 percent
of students prefer using
Facebook to share Church-
related messages. Conversely,
only 3 percent of students
use Twitter to share Church-
related messages. According
to a study done by eBiz,
Facebook is the No. 1 most
popular social networking site
with nearly three times more
unique visitors monthly than
Twitter, the No. 2 most popular
70 percent of the surveyed
students reported that they do
not hesitate to share Church-
related messages on social
media. What is causing that
gap between being mentally
prepared to share and actually
sharing? What changes would
happen if those who said they
do not hesitate to share Church
messages but do not actually
share started sharing?
Female BYU-I students are
less likely to hesitate in sharing
Church-related messages than
male students. This is shown
by only 26 percent of female
students saying they hesitate
to share Church messages on
social media, while 41 of male
students say they hesitate.
This suggests that female
BYU-I students are potentially
less shy in publicly sharing their
beliefs than male students.
20
messages, whether offcially
published by the Church or
otherwise, would be shared
through Facebook.
Offcial and unoffcial
Church messages were shared
about equally when it came to
students sharing the gospel on
social media. This could be
taken to mean that students
are willing to share the gospel
through social media
This also means that students
are just as comfortable sharing
what they believe about the
gospel as what is offcially
Church doctrine. Students are
not afraid of creating their own
content, which would suggest
an overall level of comfort in
their knowledge of the Church
doctrine and messages.
site (13).
Out of the four social media
sites Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest, and Instagram
compared in the survey, not
only is Twitter the least used
in terms of sharing Church
messages, it is used less as a
social media platform overall.
There is not a strong interaction
between BYU-I students and
Church-related social media
on Twitter. Because of this,
Twitter may not be the best
way for the Church to reach its
BYU-I student audience.
In contrast, Facebook is
by far the most-used social
networking site for BYU-I
students. Since Facebook
is the primary social media
platform used by BYU-I
students, it makes sense
that the most Church-related
21
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FOOTNOTES
22
9. Boyle, K. Latter-Day Tweets: The Mormon Times s Use
of Twitter as a Reporting Tool. Journal of Media & Religion,
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11. Mozak, Jocelyn. Understanding Social Media Sharing
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networkingwebsites.
23
APPENDIX
The Survey:
24
25
Results:
26
27
28